Tag Archives: New Hampshire writers

May 27, 2020 · 4:21 am

#LongandShortReviews #bloggingchallenge 5.27.2020

Book set in my city or state is today’s topic and it’s a goodie! I live in rural New Hampshire and the state boasts many wonderful authors in their own right who use the beauty and majesty of the state in their works, myself included ( more on that, later). These authors include, but are not limited to,

Jodi Picoult: Change of Heart, Handle with Care, The Nineteen Minutes

John Irving: A prayer for Owen Meany, The Hotel New Hampshire,

John Knowles: A Separate Peace

Anita Shreve: The Weight of Water

Thorton Wilder: Our Town

Barbara Delinsky: The Carpenter’s lady

And I would be remiss if I didn’t include myself in this group. I have an entire series, A MATCH MADE IN HEAVEN,

       

(book 3 – Baked with Love coming Winter 2020) *** this is not the real cover, just a mock-up I made!

set in Heaven, NH, a fiction town that has many eery similarities to the town I live in and my newest book, VANILLA WITH A TWIST set in the Seacoast region of New Hampshire.

 

So, you can see, New Hampshire is, has been, and will continue to be, a very popular state to set a book in.

One personal aside, the original JUMANJI movie, the one with Robin Williams, was filmed in my home town of Keene, NH.

I was lucky enough to actually watch the filming of this scene in our Central Square. Cool, no?

Let’s see where some of the other authors in this blog challenge live, and the books set in their town or state: L&SR

Until next time, peeps ~ Peg

And don’t forget, you can find me here:Tweet Me//Read Me// Visit Me//Picture Me//Pin Me//Friend Me// Triber// Book Me

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October 22, 2019 · 12:42 am

Another conference come and gone, and some career-defining moments…

Last Friday and Saturday I attended the 2019 Fall in Love New England Romance Readers and Authors conference in Nashua, NH. This was the third time I’ve attended and the first where I was a board member ( I was in charge of swag collection). Once again, I had a marvelous time interacting with the wonderful romance readers who faithfully flock to the conference, registering for it the moment the links go up on line! They are thrilled to meet their favorite authors, visit my beautiful state, and have a fun-filled weekend away.

There were so many memorable moments from this year’s conference that it would take me a week of blogging to state them all. Certain ones do stand out, though.

This year I was part of two workshops given to the readers. One was on romance tropes with NHRWA chaptermate Cheri Allan, the second was on writing humor into your stories with (again) Cheri Allan and another NHRWA writing pal, Lisa Olech.

 

Giving those two workshops introduced me -and my writing – to an entirely new group of readers. The payback for this? At Saturday’s booksigning the majority of readers who purchased my books told me they were so entertained by the workshops I co-presented they “had” to read my work.

That, my dear friends, is a career-defining moment.

When a typically introverted author can make such a good impression – publicly – on a group of people with their spoken words so much so that they want to read their words/stories,  well, let’s just say that’s like finding a golden ticket! My heart simply sighed with  pride.

From the halloween costume dinner, to the annual hotel trick-or-treating, to the fun workshops and booksigning, the weekend was a success in  every way. Here are some photos: My costume was an easy one this year – I pretended I was going to my old nursing job! Hee hee

Authors Clair Brett ( Mad Hatter) Artemis Crow ( A demon crow) and my wonderful friend and author Kari Lemor ( as a fairy) Unfortunately I clipped her wings in this photo!

Sexy Alice in Wonderland ( Marianne Rice) needed some nursing attention!

My table for the Saturday booksigning.

 

All the fabulous signing authors before the sale began. Can you spot me? Here’s a hint: I’m not standing! heehee.

I need to send a special shoutout to a few people who simply touch my heart in every way, so bear with me.

To Wanda Foss Osepowicz – you are a delight to sit and chat with, and one of the loveliest people I have ever met.

Jennifer Kerfien – I am so glad I met you at the first FILNE. Your friendship and support means the world to me. Plus, you give great gifts!!!

Josee Giroux – Ditto! And I’d work with you as a health professional any day of the week. Hee Hee

To all my NHRWA sistahs who attended this year: Clair Brett, Cheri Allan, Kathy Hills, Lisa Olech, Linda Kepner, D.L. Jackson, Nora Leduc, Sandra Waine – you  ladies inspire me every day.

The all my ROMANCE GEMS sistahs who attended this year: Nora LeDuc, Elsa Kurt, Satin Russell, Kari Lemor, Lucinda Race, Nancy Fraser Kathy Hills   it was such a blast meeting you all!

Next year, FILNE 2020 will have new leadership at the helm in Suzanne Eglington. I simply can not wait for the 2020 conference!!!

Until next time ~ Peg

 

 

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January 28, 2019 · 12:15 am

Coming up on Feb.9, 2019

I’m so excited about this. On February 9, 2019 at THE BOOKERY in Manchester, NH, I’ll be appearing alongside fellows authors – and friends – Marianne Rice and Ashlyn Chase from 2pm -4pm. We’ll be talking about our latest book releases and discussing how the romance genre has changed over the years.

If you have a few hours to spare on a Saturday afternoon, please consider joining us. We’ll be signing selected books from our catalog after the talk. For me, it’s the first book in my new MATCH MADE IN HEAVEN series, DEARLY BELOVED.

Join us for a great afternoon of all things romance – right before Valentine’s day ( really, what could be better? Hee Hee)

 

Colleen O’Dowd manages a thriving bridal business with her sisters in Heaven, New Hampshire. After fleeing Manhattan and her cheating ex-fiancé, Colleen still believes in happily ever afters. But with a demanding business to run, her sisters to look after, and their 93-year-old grandmother to keep out of trouble, she’s worried she’ll never find Mr. Right.

Playboy Slade Harrington doesn’t believe in marriage. His father’s six weddings have taught him life is better as an unencumbered single guy. But Slade loves his little sister. He’ll do anything for her, including footing the bill for her dream wedding. He doesn’t plan on losing his heart to a smart-mouthed, gorgeous wedding planner, though.

When her ex-fiancé comes back into the picture, Colleen must choose between Mr. Right and Mr. Right No

Available at:

Amazon // Wild Rose Press // Kobo // B&N // Google Play // Books-a-million

and if you’re looking for me, here I am: Tweet Me//Read Me// Visit Me//Picture Me//Pin Me//Friend Me//Google+Me// Triber// BookMe // Monkey me //Watch me

and here’s the link to my TELL ME ABOUT YOUR DAMN BOOK podcast interview, just in case you missed it: TMAYDB

 

 

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November 7, 2018 · 4:00 am

1 of my top 5 days!

Last week I was delighted to attend a day long seminar in Manchester, NH  of the New Hampshire Conference for Women

I’ve wanted to attend for years, but something always came up that was a time suck and I couldn’t. This year, when I heard who the featured speaker was, I pushed everything else on my agenda to the to do pile, because there was no way I was going to miss out on hearing one of my heroes, Jack Canfield, speak.

Jack Canfield is the motivating force behind the SUCCESS PRINCIPLES and the CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE SOUL books that have been in print and production for almost 20 years and show no sign of slowing down anytime in the future. I was a fan with the very first CSFTS book.  I became a devotee when one of my own stories was published in the series.

In 2011  I submitted a piece of non-fiction I’d written after seeing an advertisement in Writer’s Digest for calls to a new  addition to the series, FOR EVERY MOM’S SOUL. There’s not a lot I know about, but I know what it’s like being a mom, so I sat down and wrote a few pages on my reflections of being a mom to a daughter, and an only child. Well, miracles happen every day peeps, because a month later I received a letter from the CSFTS franchise telling me my piece was going to be added into the 2012 edition titled CHICKEN SOUP FOR EVERY MOM’S SOUL. (I’m on page 87)

To say I was excited would be an absolute understatement. It was around this time (2011-12) that I started toying with trying to get my writing career ( such as it was) up and running. I’d had a lot of success with non-ficiton, lifestyle stuff published in magazines, and some real success with fictional short stories in literary  magazines, but I wanted to break into the book reading market.

If you’ve ever read anything of my journey to that first book’s publication in this blog, you know it was a strange, twisted road to publishing success.

But I made it and in 2015 my first book hit the shelves ( and Kindles!!)

I can truly attribute my desire and my knowing I was going to make it someday in the book publishing world to that first publication in the CSFTS book.

So, when I heard Jack Canfield was going to be the speaker, I had to attend. And boy, am I glad I did. I brought my copy of the book I was in with me,  screwed up my courage, and approached him to ask him to autograph the book and tell him what being included in it had done for my career. Someone told me I was so brave to go up to him and ask for his autograph when no one else was around. My thought was this: I wasn’t brave, because I just remembered what I feel like every time someone asks me to autograph one of my books: honored! He was as gracious and open and kind and sweet as could be. He not only signed the book but wrote a lovely message as well.

Two times in my life I have dreamed about meeting the people who influenced my decision to try my hand at writing: Nora Roberts and Jack Canfield. And I’ve now met both of them.

Dreams do come true, peeps. Every. Single Day.

Find me here:Tweet Me//Read Me// Visit Me//Picture Me//Pin Me//Friend Me//Google+Me// Triber// BookMe // Monkey me //Watch me

 

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November 13, 2014 · 1:51 pm

Almost half way thru NaNoWriMo…

30 days can be regarded in a number of ways. It’s a full month on a calendar ( if you disregard February and forget the 31 day months); it’s a little over 4 exact weeks; it’s a pay period for most workers, a menstrual cycle, and a billing rotation. It’s the amount of time most people set aside to get a haircut. Psychologists tell us in 30 days we can form new and better habits, changing out old, bad ones. Many contact lenses need to be replaced every 30 days, and you should really change some of your makeup monthly as well.

All those things can be done in 30 days. Most with relative ease.

What’s not so easy to do in 30 days is write a 50,000+ word novel/first draft.

Don’t get me wrong: it can be done. And has.

But it really isn’t that easy.

We’re almost at the halfway time mark of this year’s NaNoWriMo challenge. I’m doing well – better than I expected, really. Right now I’m sitting in my local Subaru dealer getting my car inspected and fixing a recall problem.

And I’m typing. At this moment – this blog entry. But until a minute ago I was working on my NaNo WIP. I’ve found I bring my laptop with me everywhere I go, including to work, and when I can manage it – lunch hours and breaks in the day, – I open my NaNo file and … go.

The goal of 50,000 words can seem daunting. For most, it is. But for people like us who write for a living/hobby/obsession, it’s not as bad as it seems.

Breaking it down to a little over 1500 words per day – or roughly 6-7 pages of  double spaced text – it can be done.

And remember – this is a first draft. It’s not the finished, polished, ready to submit one. That comes later with editing.

I find with this draft I usually do a lot of dialogue. I can always put in the subtext, tags, and descriptions later with the editing, but I like to know what my peeps are gonna say first and take the story from there. Dialogue comes quick to me – probably because I never shut up in real life! But seriously, whatever comes easiest for you – dialogue, exposition, description, or even backstory – go with it. Let it flow and let it go. Like I said, you can always go back later, after the challenge, and make it better.

But get those words on the page now. That’s what the important part of the challenge is. Training yourself to type everyday, to create on a  timeline, to focus your thoughts and words.

So, how far are you at this halfway mark?

 

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